Health ITPaperless Hospital Management Systems – An Overview

The advancements in the healthcare industry are not just confined to quality medical care solutions but also to change the delivery system and patient experience as a whole. All the industries have understood the innate potential of automation and the results are quite optimistic. For instance, many hospitals have already introduced RFID tags for record-keeping, access control, inventory tracking, and more, thereby improving efficiency. It is now time for the healthcare industry transformation, in the light of emerging automation solutions in the hospital management system.

As a sector that strives to establish a healthy world, digitalization or the paperless operations system in healthcare industry is a necessity than a need. It is the first step that needs to be taken to unveil a greener world for the upcoming generation.

The perks of digitalization are vast and most importantly it helps the environment. The initial steps have already been taken towards a paperless system. Still there is a lot of work that needs to be done to make the world a paperless place.

 Steps to Establish a Paperless Hospital:

Leveraging the Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) the healthcare players are expected to meet the ever-growing consumer expectations while keeping a tab on economies of scale. While a paperless healthcare management system sounds as exciting and promising, establishing and bringing it into practice requires lot of training and understanding by the staff. You could always seek the support of the healthcare consultancies who are experienced in hospital digitalization process.

Here are a few steps involved in the digital transition to set up a seamless paperless hospital operations system.

Creating the Digitalized SOP – The patient information is collected the moment the individual steps inside the hospital environment. The patient trajectory needs to be understood at each point and the staff at various patient touch points should be familiar with the same.

Implementation of the EMR System – The availability of advanced EMR softwares eases  most of the pain-points involved in generating the patient information and safeguarding it. The healthcare providers should have clear understanding of the applications of these softwares.

Migration of Data – The critical yet crucial step in the whole transition process is the migration of zillions of data from its physical form to digital formats. The transferring process requires an integrated approach that is beyond just scanning the existing records.

Securing the Patient Information – Various check points needs to be ticked to retain the patient information as per the healthcare ethical practices and to protect it. Even though digital records are almost nonperishable, they could become easy prey for the unauthorized sources. The protection of this information requires various digital certifications and software that safeguard.

Advantages of Paperless Hospital Management System:

Here are a few ways in which a paperless environment in hospitals could help the mankind for greater good.

Access Medical Documents Remotely – In this generation that is enabled by Cloud Computing, the healthcare providers will have access to medical documents from almost anywhere with just an Internet connection.

The electronic communications in a healthcare system puts the patients at the forefront of knowledge with the ease of access to their medical records at their fingertips. It not only save the time of both parties but also opens doors for the quality medical care even from the remote areas.

Storage and Security – The most important functions in a hospital operational setup are storing the medical records and securing them. Storing the medical records in paper forms would be the most strenuous task as it is space and time consuming. The paper medical records are easy to lose and hard to find a particular file from the pile. Electronic records save time in finding the required document as well as they are stored in an organized fashion. The best thing about digital document management systems is that they are saved in the cloud, and it is almost impossible to lose them. If you’re unsure about securing these files, consult medical records storage services professionals.

Time Saving and Efficient – The hospital is a fast-paced environment and demands access to the medical files as quickly as possible. With the help of electronic medical records (EMR) you already save lot of time by simply using a few buttons on the system. Managing the bundles of hard copies has already been reduced, thanks to the EMR and EPR.

The paperless appointments, doctor notes and prescriptions save up on the time. For example, the pharmacy could access the prescription that is entered on the online database by the support staff.

This reduces lot of time and eases the process of patient flow within a hospital management system.

Cleans Up the Clutter – The disorganization of the medical records could be alleviated with the help of paperless operation systems in hospitals. As medical records tend to pile up day by day, space allocation for these files would be a real challenge. Instead, digital files will take less space and the setting up the IT infrastructure is simple, thanks to the advanced cloud computing facilities.

 Disadvantages of Fully Digitalized Hospitals:

The digitalization of hospitals is a big leap in healthcare world, without a second thought. However, there is other side of the coin too.

• The cost of implementation could be high based on the software.
• Security of data in cloud and in digital format poses a great risk for unauthorized access.
• Training and application of the software could be a challenging task especially in a setup where the staff is used to the conventional operational methods.
• Complying with the software upgrades and regulations requires a constant tab.

Overcoming the fear of new challenging that the staff may have is important in the migration process. They need to understand the perks of digitalization and should be well trained to welcome the change. Also, complying with the upgrades and with the regulation processes need to be observed beforehand, once the paperless hospital is established.

Even though the idea of paperless offices and hospitals seem easy to adopt, the integration process is time consuming and demands great attention to detail. There pain points in digitalization of hospitals but they should not be seen as obstacles to take a leap towards the world of digitalization.